U.N. condemns Israel as only violator of women’s rights in the world

The UN’s 45-member Commission on the Status of Women, meeting in its 2017 annual session, singled out Israel as the only country in the world subjected to a condemnatory resolution on women’s rights.

The Jewish state was harshly and repeatedly condemned in the resolution for allegedly being the “major obstacle” for Palestinian women “with regard to their advancement, self-reliance and integration in the development of their society.”

The resolution made no mention of how Palestinian women’s rights are impacted by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, or their patriarchal society, nor were Palestinian victims of honor killings mentioned.

The UN commission ended the session by ignoring the world’s major abusers of women’s rights, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, and many others.

Here is the resolution adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women on March 22, 2017, and then subsequently ratified by its parent body, the Economic and Social Council. The vote in the CSW was 30 to 1 (Israel), with 12 abstentions (and 2 apparently absent).

The protocols of the meeting:

At the 12th meeting, on 22 March, the representative of Ecuador, on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are members of the Group of 77 and China, taking into account the provisions of General Assembly resolution 52/250 of 7 July 1998, introduced a draft resolution entitled “Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women” (E/CN.6/2017/L.3).

At the 13th meeting, on 24 March, the Commission was informed that the draft resolution contained no programme budget implications.

At the same meeting, Turkey joined in sponsoring the draft resolution.

Also at the same meeting, the Commission adopted the draft resolution by a recorded vote of 30 to 1, with 12 abstentions, and recommended it to the Economic and Social Council for its adoption (see chap. I, sect. B). The voting was as follows: